After an extensive tender process, the parties have signed an 8-year contract providing SPK with 24/7 Managed Detection and Response (MDR), and incident handling.

The importance of being a professional customer

The Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (Statens pensjonskasse or SPK) is Norway’s main provider of public pensions for employees in the public sector. SPK is responsible for EUR 55 billion accrued pensions, annually disbursing EUR 2.8 billion to its members. As part of the process to further professionalise SPK’s security posture, the organisation has chosen to partner with mnemonic.

Bjørn Ødegård, ICT Security Manager at SPK, explains that changes in the threat landscape the last few years has increased the need for a professional partner to provide advice on how to best meet new challenges:

“We’re noticing that this requires more of us all. In addition, the IT world is quite different now than earlier. New technological developments and the use of cloud provides us with less control and new challenges,” he says.

“As we’re developing and adapting to new realities, we see the importance of also becoming a professional receiver of security services. This way, we’re making sure we do our part to secure the large amounts of data we manage for our members, and get the most out of this partnership with mnemonic.”

Hybrid cooperation

Bjørn Ødegård is satisfied with SPK’s choice of mnemonic as their security partner:

“mnemonic is synonymous with resilience and stability. And we’ve been impressed with their modern infrastructure. Not many in Europe provide what they do, nor have as broad experience with similar deliveries for large public customers,” he continues.

Erik Alexander Løkken, Manager security services at mnemonic highlights that the two parties will learn from each other:

“We’re looking at a hybrid cooperation with two active parties that will develop together. SPK’s security team have demonstrated high in-house competence already, and have established more capacity internally to work with us, and for us to become better sparring partners,” he states.

He also explains that SPK is already onboarded and receiving Managed Detection and Response services after a successful implementation project:

“I want to give credit to the SPK team for their collaboration and expertise. Already during the tender process, it became clear that SPK knows where they want to go and what they need. This has provided us with a solid foundation for this long-term partnership,” he says.

About The Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund

The Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund (Statens pensjonskasse or SPK) is Norway’s main provider of public occupational pensions for employees in the public sector. SPK also offers housing loans and insurance schemes to members, and financial support to dependants.

SPK is under the Norwegian Department for Employment and Inclusion and its mandate is set by the Norwegian parliament. They administer pensions to the value of 647 billion Norwegian kroner (NOK) for around 1.300 organisations and more than 1.1 million current and former employees in the public sector.

About mnemonic

mnemonic is a European cybersecurity company headquartered in Oslo, Norway with security experts in all fields within IT and information security. mnemonic is acknowledged as a leader Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services, and recognised by Gartner as a notable vendor in delivering MDR services, threat intelligence and advanced targeted attack detection.

For over 22 years, mnemonic has been a reliable provider of effective defence against advanced cyber threats. The company’s experience managing the most advanced threats and incidents sets it apart from the rest of the market.